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Solar Energy Research Center (SERC)

Project Description

Chu Hall, previously Solar Energy Research Center (SERC), is a 39,000 gsf building designed to house research laboratories and offices devoted to nanoscale photovoltaic and electro-chemical solar energy systems. The location of the building is in the area known as Old Town and will be immediately east of Building 26 (Medical) off McMillan Road.

The goal in building SERC is to develop the science and technology to create transportation fuels, i.e. solar fuels, from sunlight. The research will seek to answer the question of how we create nanoscale sunlight collectors, efficient catalytic processes, and product separation technologies to develop inexpensive systems using abundant and environmentally friendly materials. The multi-disciplinary staff at SERC will address these, and other challenges, in order to develop an efficient solar to chemical energy system, using nanoscale photovoltaic and electrochemical technology. Fuels that might result from this research include hydrocarbons, ethanol, methanol, and hydrogen.

Additional Information

Environmental Documents

Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory has issued environmental documents for proposed activities. The documents are provided below in reverse chronological order by the environmental act that they address. Additionally, we have included related documents at the bottom of the page.

Most documents are in PDF format and require Adobe Acrobat Reader for viewing. You may download a free copy of the software from Adobe’s website.